No Peace and Quiet for Manfred (chapter 1)
by emrys-knight
Summary: Manfred just can't catch a break when one of Olivia's client's problems rolls into town. Good thing Midnighters help each other out because he wouldn't be able to handle this on his own.


"Lem and Olivia need your help, Manfred." Creek said in her sweetest voice.

"He can come here when it's dark. I hate that shop. It's so loud." He replied.

"Olivia needs the information as soon as possible if she's gonna fix this problem. You should head over there now. I'll be here when you get back." Creek stated. She was right. He had to go.

"Boy go over there and help your friends." Zelda said.

"I'm **going**." He said.

"What's with the tone?" Creek asked.

"No. Sorry. I was talking to my grandma." He answered after opening the door. "You'll be right here when I get back?" Creek nodded and he left.

"Crap." Manfred sighed. He stared through the window. The store was nearly too full of antiques. He gathered up his courage and walked in.

"Lem's downstairs. He's been waiting." Bobo said.

"Yeah I'm-I'm here t—" Manfred started. The voices and noises slowly built until they became too much for him to handle. "Agh!" He fell to the ground with his hands on his head.

"Hey!" Bobo yelled. He couldn't hear it over everything.

"It's so loud!" Manny cried out. Bobo grabbed him and dragged him downstairs.

"What's the matter with— Oh." Lem said. "My apologies. I'd have gone out to meet you but I can't exactly do that."

"It's fine. I'm just in pain when I come in here. You die if you go out there. Fair trade off, I guess." Manfred said.

"Let me know when you're done." Bobo said. He left the room for the two to converse.

"I need to you talk to the owner of this gun." Lem said. He handed Manny the firearm and backed away.

"Okay. What do you need me to ask them?"

"Who he was working for. Olivia needs to find whoever wanted her client dead."

"Right." Manfred said. He held the weapon in both hands and closed his eyes. "I need to ask you a few questions. If you could help, that'd be great."

A moment passed and nothing appeared. Lem started to say something before the smoke accumulated and a man materialized between the two.

"Who are you?" The spirit asked.

"I'm Manfred. Who are you?" He asked.

"Rick." The spirit replied.

"My friend here wants to know who you were working for before you died." Manny said. He set the gun down on the bed.

"I wasn't working for anyone. I was unemployed." Rick said.

"What's he saying?" Lem asked.

"He wasn't working for anyone." Manfred answered.

"Then why did he try to kill Olivia's client?" Lem asked.

"How did you die?" Manny asked.

"Police shootout. I was running and when I tried to shoot one— well, let's say she got me first." Rick answered.

"Why were you running from the cops?" Manfred questioned him. He had a bad feeling brewing in his chest. Something wasn't right here. By the time he was going to ask another question, the smoke dissipated and Rick was gone.

"Well?" Lem asked, impatiently.

"He left." Manfred answered.

"What did he say, though?"

"He said he died in a police shootout. He didn't say why they were chasing him."

"But he wasn't working for anyone. That means he had a personal reason for trying to kill Olivia's client."

"Guess so. Anything else?" Manfred asked. He made his way towards the door to call for Bobo.

"Take the gun in case he decides to talk." Lem grabbed the firearm off of the bed and handed it to him.

 _Creek said to get a gun._ He thought on the way back to his house. _This isn't what she meant._

Manfred opened the door to his house to find Creek grabbing a drink out of the fridge. When she turned around and saw the gun in his hand, a look of confusion spread across her face.

"You got a gun?" Creek asked. "What were y'all doing?"

"It's not mine. It's a dead person's. Lem told me to keep it in case he wants to talk again." Manfred said.

"Oh. Well I'm not really in the mood for talking, either." She said. She set the bottle on the counter and started to walk towards him. She took her jacket off and threw it to the side. They began kissing. In sync, the two lifted each other's tops off. Right as they started going for the other's pants, the gun began to rattle. Manfred pulled away for a moment before Rick appeared again.

"Rick." Manny said. Creek bent down and grabbed her shirt. She put it back on and looked around the room.

"Who's Rick?" She asked.

"He's the guy who owned the gun Lem gave me." Manfred said. "What do you want?"

"You'll find out." Rick said. He turned into a moving smoke and entered into his body.

"Manfred?" Creek asked.

"Your boy toy isn't home. I'll tell him you called." Rick said. He pushed her to the side and she hit her head on the wall. She was instantly knocked out. He left the house after grabbing a shirt.

"Manfred?" Lem continued knocking on the door. He opened it to see Creek on the ground, unconscious. He rushed over and helped her up.

"Lem?" She asked. "Where's Manfred?"

"I don't know. I came to see him." He answered.

"I think the spirit is in his body." She said, concerned.

"We have to find him. The man was a serial killer." Lem said, sternly. He got his phone out and called Olivia. No answer. "She's probably on her way back with her phone out of reach…"

"I hope because if he can't expel this spirit…" Creek started. She couldn't finish before seeing him. He was walking towards the church. Lem picked her up and sped towards him.

"Manfred!" Creek yelled.

"Rick." Lem said. He turned around. Right as he did, Olivia pulled up and got out.

"I can't! I can't stop him!" Manfred cried out, trying to get control of his body back.

"What's going on?" Olivia asked.

"Manfred can't expel the spirit that hijacked him." Creek said. Olivia drew her gun. "No! Don't hurt him!"

"I may have to." Olivia said.

"I have an idea…" Lem started. He grabbed Manfred's body and started leeching. The two slowly lowered to the ground before Manny fell unconscious.

His eyes slowly opened to see himself in chains with Creek, Lem and Olivia standing on the other side of the room. He stood up as fast as he could and ran towards them, yanking the chains at his wrists, ankles and neck. He laughed maniacally.

"A bit kinky, isn't this?" He said, looking at Creek.

"You have to fight him." Olivia said.

"He can't fight me. But **you** can try. Get closer to me with that nice **rack**." Rick said, laughing. Lem stepped forward with his fist up but Olivia stopped him. Manfred slowly fought through and could speak.

"Leave me. Just leave me." He begged. Creek walked towards him and put her hands on his cheek.

"You're gonna be okay." She tried to comfort him. He was pushed to the back of his conscious and Rick came back. He grabbed a piece of broken glass off of the floor and put it to her neck with her facing the others.

"Let me go and you can have your girl back." Rick said. Manfred pushed through for only a moment.

" **Kill me**. Kill me before I hurt her." He begged. " **Please** kill me."

"Move!" Olivia yelled. She was looking Creek dead in the eye. She understood and moved her body to the side a little bit. Olivia shot him in the stomach on the right. Mere inches above is pelvis. He fell to the ground and lost grip of the glass. Creek ran over to the other side of the room and sat against the wall.

"I'm not leaving." Rick said. "I have a body again." Manfred fought through.

"If I die with you still inside, your spirit will be ripped to shreds." He said. Rick didn't believe him until the pain started. The pool of blood on the floor grew and the more it did, the more pain Rick's spirit was in. He finally saw truth in what Manfred said and left his body.

"Manfred!" Creek yelled. She ran over to him lying on the floor. He was breathing heavily. Olivia removed the chains.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Am I okay? You're the one that got shot." She laughed. He groaned. He started to lose consciousness.

"The bullet's still in there." Olivia said. "We should get it out." Lem picked Manny up and carried him outside to the truck parked outside. He laid him down in the bed. Lem and Creek got in with Manfred and Olivia went to the front to drive him to Fiji's house.

"I'm gonna pull it out with these pliers. It's gonna hurt." Lem said. Manfred nodded and closed his eyes. "Hold him down." Creek got on top of him with her hands on his biceps. Lem began to dig through his stomach for the bullet. Manfred's eyes opened wide and he screamed in pain.

"It's okay. Just a bit longer." Creek tried to comfort him. It worked a little bit. He continued to scream.

"It's really deep." Lem said, feeling sorry for him. Manfred arched his back a little bit and dug the back of his head into the bed of the pickup. His screams woke up some of the Midnighters who were coming out of their homes.

"Manfred!" Fiji exclaimed. She ran over to the truck. Olivia was driving slowly so Lem could work without much issue.

"Long story." Creek said. She lost a little bit of her grip on him but regained it. His screams started to make her cry but she held back her tears. But suddenly, silence. "Good. You got it?"

"No it's too **deep.** " Lem looked over to see Manfred passed out. "It's the pain." The levee broke and Creeks tears flowed. Finally, the bullet was out and it, along with the pliers, were tossed to the side.

Olivia parked in front of Fiji's house and got out. They picked him up and jumped off of the pickup. They carried him towards the door and into the house.

"Put him over there." Fiji said. Lem carried Manfred over to the futon and laid him down. She knelt down next to him and began to sew up his wound.

"Let's let him sleep. He needs it." Lem said. Creek stayed while he and Olivia left. She slept on the chair next to the futon for the rest of the night. She didn't want to leave him. Not after nearly losing him.

—end—


End file.
